Pieces of a Puzzle
by TriniTea
Summary: "A hand slips onto Skye's waist, underneath the oversized Henley she stole from her boyfriend. She is slowly stirred awake from her dream, but luckily her reality is just as good, if not better than her dream." Skye and Ward celebrate their anniversary. (Part of the Skyeward Big Bang)


**...**

 **Author's Note: Well, I'm actually partaking in a fandom event for once! Happy Skyeward Big Bang! To see my photo prompt (an aesthetic-y photo of a puzzle) you can find it on my tumblr trinitea-fics.**

 **Also, I'm not dead! Once September rolled around I was drowning in a sea of extracurriculars and homework (and if you are actually interested in my fics you should check out my Tumblr, there are just a lot of post about me screaming about the writing process, how I have no time and how I try to force my prompts on other people).**

 **I hope you enjoy! And hopefully I'll get to posting more soon!**

 **(Also you can can low-key tell that I haven't written fics in a while. I've wrote tons of essays and have been burnt out from that. I'm super rusty.)**

 **...**

A hand slips onto Skye's waist, underneath the oversized Henley she stole from her boyfriend. She is slowly stirred awake from her dream, but luckily her reality is just as good, if not better than her dream. Her eyes flutter open as Ward's stubble grazes her cheek and then moves to kiss her neck. Skye leans into his touch, her back firmly pressed against his chest.

"'Morning Hot-stuff," Skye speaks softly. "Happy anniversary."

There is a slight chuckle in his voice, "Happy anniversary."

Skye shifts in his arms so she can gaze into her boyfriend's eyes. She cups his cheek with one hand and leans for chaste kiss. Even if it was their lips just brushing together, it feel like electricity is coursing through her veins, just a reminder of why she lives for domestic moments like this.

Ward sighs with content as they rest their foreheads together. "I can't believe it's been three years since I put a bag over your head and took your from the dingy old van of yours," his thumb lazy stroking her cheek.

She places a finger over his lips. "Shush, my van isn't dingy."

"Sorry to break it to you baby, but it was dingy." Ward gives her a playful kiss on the cheek before pushing himself upright and turning away.

She groans at the loss of contact. He's such a drama queen, always in need of the last laugh. "Babe," Skye grabs his arm with both hands, "Stay just ten more minutes, okay?"

A smirk creeps up on his lips (a smirk that she knows all too well, one that gets her heart racing) as he lets himself get pulled back towards her. "Always," he whispers, a seductive tone on his tongue before leaning down and sealing their lips with a passionate kiss.

Skye laces her fingers behind his neck, bringing her even closer to him as she matches his zeal. She feels her boyfriend's hands gripping her sides, traveling lower and lower down her body.

She lifts her knees to each of his sides and uses the momentum to flip them over and straddle Ward's hips. Taking advantage of the brief moment of disconnect between her and Ward, she reaches for the hem of her her shirt and pulls it off effortlessly. Skye replicates Ward's smirk from early as she tosses the useless garment behind her.

Ward's eyes darken at the sight of her. "Happy anniversary to us."

Skye snickers, "Happy anniversary to us," before lending down for another kiss.

...

Skye toys with the hem of her shirt as she waits for Ward to deliver breakfast in bed. Breakfast in bed wasn't even her idea, it was his. You know he's pulling all the stops when he's risking crumbs and coffee stains getting into his perfect white sheets.

Moments later the door swings open and in follows Ward holding a tray bearing a pair of plates and mugs. Skye takes a deep breath, smelling the mixed scents of her favourite breakfast foods.

She raises an eyebrow, inquiring "Is that pumpkin pancakes I smell?"

Ward smiles, approaching the bed. "Yes, and bacon, eggs and coffee for you, double cream, double sugar."

"Wow, thank you." Skye says while gratefully taking her spoils. "It's been so long since we've had a nice breakfast, hell, since we haven't been woken up before sunrise because some kind of superpowered psycho decided to try and take over the world."

Ward takes the seat beside her and passes her the maple syrup, while adding, "I just hope that luck is on our side today and some A.I. doesn't become sentient and decides to destroy the world. I swear that our life is like some bad network drama, this kind of stuff is so inconveniently timed."

Skye pops the yoke of her egg, then uses that knife to gesture towards Ward. "We'll don't jinx us then! It's gonna be your fault if we are swallowed by alien space rocks and get brainwashed with blue soap," Skye says before taking her mug off of the night table.

Ward laughs, "Alien space rocks? _Blue soap?_ What does that even mean?"

Skye finishes taking a sip of coffee before shrugging, "I don't know, just something that popped into my head."

"Anyways, now moving onto good, actually probable things that might happen today, what do you think we should do today? We can drive out to downtown or something and spend the day out. I know we never talking about making dinner reservations or anything, but if I call in now I'm sure I can find a nice place," Ward offers.

Skye shrugs. "Err, I don't know, what about a lazy day? Just hanging out, enjoying each other's company, maybe watching anime on Netflix."

"We can pull out a board game when we're done here, _Battleship_ maybe."

"Sounds like a plan, but first…" Skye places her plate on the nightstand and retrieves a small, white envelope from its drawer. Holding it out to Ward she says. "I got you something."

"Let me guess, is it a gift card to ' _Discount Henley_ _Warehouse_ '?" he asks, placing his plate on the floor and taking the envelope from her.

Skye pauses for a moment, having to double take on his words. "Wait, wait, wait… That's—that's a thing?"

Ward rolls his eyes. "Of course not!" he exclaims, "I was just trying to be funny."

"I didn't think you had a funny bone in your body."

Ward opens up the envelope. "Ha, ha," he mocks.

Skye watches as Ward's eyes go wide as he stares down at the slip of paper. He looks back up at her bearing a smile even wider than her own. "We—you're." He turns around the paper that reads 'I.O.U. a dog :)' "You're letting me get a dog?!"

"Yes, yes, I finally gave in," Skye replies, low-key tooting her own horn as an amazing girlfriend.

Ward takes her by surprise and tackles Skye into a hug. She laughs as her back hits the mattress and then Ward rolls them around so she is tightly being held against his chest. As Ward slightly rocks her back and forth in his arms, he leans down and kisses the top of her head. "Skye, I love you so much."

Skye rests her chin on his chest. "You love me just because I'm getting you a dog."

"No, not just because you're getting me a dog, other things too." Ward pulls her up towards him in order for him to kiss her. "During our lazy day can we go to one of the local shelters and get our puppy?"

Skye laughs, "Of course."

He pushes himself to sitting, moving Skye into his lap. "Anyways, I got you a little something too."

"A second gift? Let me guess, is it another round?" Skye asks suggestively, resting her forearms on his shoulders, moving so they're within a breath of each other.

Ward snickers, giving her a quick peck before lifting her off his lap. "Maybe that will be your third gift today."

Skye crosses her legs, waiting patiently as Ward goes into the closet and grabs a package from the top shelf. When he turns around she sees a better view of it, a medium sized white box with a thick red ribbon perfectly tied into a bow on the top.

Walking back towards her he smiles, "I hope you like it."

When he hands it to her she holds it up to her ear, gives it a little shake and hears it moving inside. There seems to be something small, maybe in pieces, but she can't quite tell for sure. Skye pulls an end of the ribbon, unraveling the bow, before opening the box.

Skye looks back up at Ward, a smile on her lips.

"A puzzle?"

"Yeah, I got it custom made." He takes a seat at the edge of the bed. "I thought that it was a perfect anniversary present because you are I are like pieces solving a puzzle."

"Oh my God you're so cheesy… And so you remembered that whole ' _pieces solving a puzzle_ ' talk I gave you when we were first on the Bus, huh?"

"Maybe," he mutters, heat rising on his cheek.

"You're such a dork Grant, I love it and I love the puzzle too." Skye leans forward and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Maybe we'll sit down tonight with some pizza, some snacks and beer and put this baby together."

"Sounds perfect."

…

As Skye dumps the pieces onto the coffee table, Ward proposes, "Okay, so I say that we start with the outside pieces first and work our way in."

Skye snickers under her breath, even during a romantic evening Agent Grant Ward still needs to make a plan.

"Okay, but you know, this would be a lot easier if we had a picture for reference, like a lot easier. Right now we, well, I have no idea how this thing fits together." Skye comments as she sorts the different patterns and piles together the edge pieces.

"But what's the fun in that?" Ward says, while popping open beers for them. "That ruins the surprise."

"How many pieces is it?"

Ward furrows his brow. "Seven hundred, fifty I believe."

Skye's head snaps around look at Ward. "Seven hundred and fifty? Why? Why—oh never mind, I guess I'm gonna be here all night. I don't think I can rest until this is finished and you know that I'm going to get wayyyy too invested this sort of stuff. You better get me some caffeine and sugar, this is going to take a while."

...

As much as there were moments where it felt like Skye's head might explode from look at all of these little pieces for too long, slowly, but surely, the puzzle was coming along.

Skye picked up the theme of the puzzle rather quickly, it was a collage of the things she and Ward have done together; the pictures from date night, group shots with them and the team during the holidays, 'we didn't die' after mission selfies, it's all a walk down memory lane. That combined with the rose and daisy motif made it too pretty to just keep in a box in their closet, once their done Skye is for sure going to run to the store to get a frame for the puzzle. It would be a shame to not display it in their home.

And despite the whole bit about those moments when her brain feels like mush, it was actually pretty relaxing. As much as this stuff isn't usually her thing—her personally taking a liking towards more exhilarating pastimes—there is something about it that she loves. It's probably a combination of the curiosity of what the image the pieces create, the early 2000s pop music she starting playing as a joke (that she ended up enjoying) and just being able to relive memories with Ward that is keeping her invested in a rather mundane task.

Skye laughs as she puts together another photo, one Ward buried in sand as she and Fitz sculpted a seashell bikini and a mermaid tail for him.

She sighs with content, "Aww, those were the days…"

"You find it funny, you know much how much I hated that," Ward fires back.

"But that's what made it so funny! You were being all bruty like Anakin Skywalker, all ' _I hate sand, it's rough, it gets everywhere_ ', classic! You were probably like that during your teenage emo faze." Skye laughs as she scans through the few pieces remaining.

"I didn't have an emo faze," Ward protests.

Skye chuckles while shaking her head, "You can keep telling yourself that, but I did see a picture of you with bangs covering, like, half of your forehead. If that isn't 'teen angst' I don't know what is."

"It was in style back then," Ward grumbles, only for Skye to reply with another full-bellied laugh.

She quickly snaps in a few pieces, it becoming easier as they are in the home stretch. The final photograph comes together; it's Ward holding a sign, wearing this goofy grin on his face. She placed down another piece, the sign now reading 'Skye, will you m—' her breath hitches and her heart skips a beat.

All of a sudden it's like she can't find words, all she can do is stare at that incomplete sign, trying to process what she's seeing. Grant... he's—he's proposing to her… Actually proposing, like, marriage to her! He—he wants to be her dork forever...

She turns to her boyfriend, with the same goofy smile on his face as the picture, on one knee, an open velvet box bearing a diamond ring.

"Yes!" Skye proclaims before throwing herself into Ward's arms, he almost dropping the ring in the process. "Oh my—Grant! Yes!" Skye feels him place a kiss on the top of her head as she buries her face in his shoulder, letting her tears dampen his shirt.

Ward cups her face, their eyes meeting as he asks, "May I?" while holding up the ring. Skye, still lost for words, simply nods. Ward takes her left hand and slides the engagement ring perfectly in place, just as it's meant to be.

"Why don't you put in that last piece?" Ward speaks up.

Skye turns back to the puzzle, taking the final piece as putting it into place to create a picture of their life together. Even moment captured, from when they were teammates, to friends, to lovers, it is all there to remind her why she fell for Agent Grant Ward, ' _Government Toolbag_ ' and all.

Skye looks back at her boyfriend—no, _fiance_ and tells him, "I love you."

Ward smiles—something that past-Skye from when they first meet wouldn't believe—before kissing the top of her head, "I love you too, now and forever."


End file.
